LEESBURG — The winner of an auction to buy the Lake Square Mall is a self-described savior of sinking malls, but his efforts don't always succeed, and his record is haunted by controversy.

The buyer is Mehran Kohansieh, whose niche is purchasing distressed and aging malls, often out of foreclosure or bankruptcy. Kohansieh, who also goes by Mike Kohan or Mike Kohen, owns 13 of them across the U.S., including two in Florida, according to his website. The closest to Lake County is the Crystal River Mall.

Kohansieh bid $13.6 million in November on auction.com for Lake Square, which is losing two of its four anchor tenants. Lake Square has been owned by mall operator Macerich, which purchased it from Simon Property Group Inc. a year earlier.

"I take distressed properties and try to revitalize them," Kohansieh told the Chicago Tribune in September when questioned about deteriorating malls he owns.

In an interview this week, Kohansieh said that he has been trying to close the deal on the Lake Square Mall, but he didn't want to talk about his plans for the shopping center, which opened in 1980. He said it was "unfortunate" that J.C. Penney is closing what it described as an underperforming story in May. Target will shutter its store there on Feb. 1.

Kohansieh's company Kohan Retail Investment Group, based in Little Neck, N.Y., bought a mall in Matteson, Ill., in 2012 and has been embroiled in controversy ever since.

Village officials went to court in August to try to force Kohansieh and his investors to demolish the 40-year-old structure, whose roof is crumbing, wiring exposed and fire-sprinkler system dismantled.

Illinois mall a 'war zone'

Kohansieh bought the mall for $150,000 with the understanding that he would be responsible for some $9 million in safety fines and unpaid taxes, according to court documents. The mall remains open, and the battle is ongoing. One tenant described its appearance as a "war zone."

The Jamestown Mall in St. Louis County, Mo., is another Kohansieh property that has been the subject of public outcry. Kohansieh paid $3.3 million for it in May 2009, after its occupancy dropped to 44 percent in 2008's sluggish economy. A county spokesman recently said, "It's not completely empty, but it's in desperate need of tenants."

Though some records show Kohansieh or his companies still are connected with the mall, he told the Chicago Tribune that he was no longer an owner. It's for sale for $2.5 million. The closest Kohansieh-owned mall is the Crystal River Mall in nearby Citrus County, which lost its oldest tenant, Belk, at the end of December. J.C. Penney closed earlier in the year.

The mall offers something called the WestEnd Marketplace in one of its empty anchors. There, the mall hosts various art-and-craft festivals and other social events along with a miniature golf course.